Meet Emery Johnson, a down-on-his-luck
orphan residing at Saint Gertrudes Catholic Orphanage. Unfortunately for Emery the
Nuns of Saint Gertrudes are a tad on the sadistic side. Emery is beaten mercilessly
for minor infractions and ends up in the dreaded "Box." Fortunately for Emery
hes got a good pal, Zack, who springs him and they run away from the hellish
conditions at the orphanage.

Once the boys are safely away they seek refuge in an old, abandoned
Church where they meet a Nun who goes by the unlikely moniker of "Saint Sista."
She is nothing like the Nuns at Saint Gertrudes and shows Emery that all Catholics
arent evil, Bible thumping morons. Just as things are settling down for the boys,
however, three vampires crash the party and make mincemeat of Zack and Saint Sista. Emery,
on the other hand, has luckily downed some Holy Water (he was thirsty and it was
available) so the vamp who chows down on him ends up being melted into an oogy puddle.
Emery still dies, however.

Flash forward 20 years and a much buffer, much fangier Emery rises
from the grave only to be greeted by fellow vampires. They are very surprised though when
they see the big ol cross etched in his chest ("the sign of the Ra Ka Tu")
and Emery gets some payback and rips apart the vamps. He is then visited by Saint Sista
who can be reached after nightfall as long as moonlight can fall on his chest. It seems
that Emery has been given Saint Sistas task of eradicating evil. Emery heads back to
the aforementioned abandoned Church to look for some holy weapons and armor with which to
combat the aforementioned evil as the Saint.

Issue #2 finds Saint eviscerating a lot of vampires and stumbling
across a weird smuggling ring involving high-tech DNA testing equipment. A mysterious
figure who knows about Emery and his new powers and who is controlling the vampire
smugglers is introduced and we find out what happened to Emerys friend Zack. Lots
more action in this issue and thats saying a lot because issue #1 was no slouch in
that department. I enjoyed the story more in #1 but that was an origin issue and #2 is
setting up the ongoing story arc so its understandable.

Fans of gory horror comics would do well to check out this series.
The artwork is a little too heavy on the inks in that sometimes panel details can get a
bit confused but overall it works. The gore shots in particular are lovingly rendered.
Issue #2 even has a "blood soaker page" complete with red ink.

The story of the Saint in issue #1 especially is well paced and
looks to be primed for more action-packed vampire stories. A few spelling errors pop up
from time to time so I would suggest the creators nab someone to proof-read their (not
"there") next issue but other than that this comic shows promise.

You might have trouble finding these comics
at your comic store so write to 2930 North Street, Erie, PA 16510-1774 or e-mail KickAss@erie.net.